1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to application-to-application (A2A) or application-to-database (A2DB) security. More particularly, the invention relates to systems and methods for A2A and A2DB security using program authentication factors.
2. Description of Related Art
Often too many users of a network are granted full, unrestricted superuser, root, or administrator privileges, regardless of whether or not they need this access all the time and regardless of whether they need access to perform their current duties. This “all trusting” environment is frequently coupled with a lack of accountability of this access. Unfortunately, these privileged accounts are often exploited by unethical insiders and hackers to perpetrate fraud, theft, and damage.
A similar issue exists with non-human processes in the area of application-to-application (A2A) or application-to-database (A2DB) communication involving service accounts on various IT systems. The passwords for these accounts are often hard-coded or embedded in the calling application or script and rarely, if ever, changed. Couple this with the fact that any skilled administrator or programmer with access to the application source code or script can view those passwords, and the potential damage associated around exploitation moves to a higher dimension that may be even harder to spot and prevent.
Due to the depth of access that privileged and embedded passwords provide to highly sensitive and confidential information, and the fact that these access credentials are shared among administrators, it is only natural that security experts and compliance auditors are recommending and requiring more scrutiny and control in this area. Without a system of checks and balances and overall accountability for privileged and embedded passwords, an organization lays itself open to exploitation and exposes its mission-critical systems to intentional or accidental harm and malicious activity that is difficult and costly to repair.